[GCW]

Sorry if these have been mentioned before, but these three in similar themes are brilliant (if a little scary):

1983- The world at the brink by Taylor Downing
Atoms and Ashes by Serhii Plokhy
Chernobyl- History of a tragedy, also by Serhii Polhy

Don’t have nightmares.

[Fiend]

Since you mentioned sci-fi, I'm currently reading Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. I'd been recommended it by two people so thought I'd try it, although I don't read much sci-fi.
I have to say I don't think much of it at the moment but I'd be interested to hear if anyone else who has read it has a different opinion

I have read it and I have a different opinion!! I enjoyed it and thought it was pretty cool, snappy sci-fi of that style. I can't remember anything about it now though. It might not be an idea choice for people who don't read much sci-fi, maybe??

Of what I've read recently these are what I'd recommend:

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Easily the best thing I've read in ages. Fantasy. Piranesi lives in the House, a seemingly infinite labyrinth of vast stone halls lined from floor to ceiling with thousands of unique statues. As he explores, we discover what the House is and who its inhabitants are. A short book, it packs in a lot of beauty and a good story. For those of us who have ever felt the urge to know a place, to get under its skin and understand every inch of it (that's you, crag developers and scrittle scrubbers), I think you'll love this.

A Fiend pro-tip as it happens!

Okay this is a nice one:

https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/piranesi

Susanna Clarke - Piranesi

Well summed up on the synopsis above, a sort of mellow Banksian "unreal fiction" tale of a substrata universe. 5 pages in the writing Style and excessive Capitalisation was getting my tits so much I didn't want to continue, 5 pages from the end I enjoyed it so much that I didn't want it to be over (it's quite short, in a sort of "doesn't want to outstay it's welcome" way). Charming and intriguing, but I did find the evolution from the earlier bewilderment into a more gentle and normal ending slightly disappointing.

Nice to hear of someone else enjoying it.

I've reading Alistair Reynolds' Prefect Dreyfus books back to back, Aurora Rising and Elysium Heights. They're quite decent although don't grab me as much as his earlier works.

[andy_e]

Loathe as I am to take cultural tip offs from an orc fiddler and Lord Chief Downgrader, that book sounds intriguing  an exploration of connection to place? Sounds grand.

[Fiend]

Maybe not quite as deep as that one line estimate, but it is a genuinely nice read!

Also that's Lord Chief Orc Fiddler to you 

[Will Hunt]

Please. I am Sacristan Hunt, Grand Inquisitor of the Grade.

Totally passed me by that it was a Friend tip. I loved the start and was disappointed when it was over (and I get what you mean about the transition from mystery to understanding).

[slab_happy]

Since you mentioned sci-fi, I'm currently reading Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. I'd been recommended it by two people so thought I'd try it, although I don't read much sci-fi.
I have to say I don't think much of it at the moment but I'd be interested to hear if anyone else who has read it has a different opinion

I read it and I thought it was Okay. It's very much doing a lot of by the numbers space opera stuff and I felt like it apes but was nowhere near as good as some other works.

So far I'd completely agree with that. It really wants to be a Culture novel, but isn't as good.

I didn't find it mind-blowing as sci-fi -- even the pronoun stuff isn't new compared to what Delany and some others were doing decades ago, e.g. in Stars In My Pocket Like Grains Of Sand -- but I enjoyed it a lot.  Good fun space opera.

[andy popp]

I've just finished Peter Gatrell's The Unsettling of Europe: The Great Migration, 1945 to the Present; as the title suggests, a history of migration to and within Europe from 1945 to 2019, when the book was written. This is an excellent piece of work, a very nuanced and humane history of an immensely complex and often contentious topic. I recommend it to any interested in the subject. Caveat, I guess, Gatrell is very firmly on the side of the migrant and the refugee.

[seankenny]

I've just finished Peter Gatrell's The Unsettling of Europe: The Great Migration, 1945 to the Present; as the title suggests, a history of migration to and within Europe from 1945 to 2019, when the book was written. This is an excellent piece of work, a very nuanced and humane history of an immensely complex and often contentious topic. I recommend it to any interested in the subject. Caveat, I guess, Gatrell is very firmly on the side of the migrant and the refugee.

What’s the most interesting thing you learned from this that you didn’t know before?

[andy popp]

One answer: the sheer ethnic complexity of some parts of Europe.

This next was not unknown to me, but the weight of detail on the massive scale and complexity of the population movements in the years immediately after the war, especially in the Soviet Union (and not only forced migrations but also voluntary - there was far more freedom of movement within the USSR than I realised). Probably also the scale of the "guest worker" schemes, not simply between Turkey and Germany, which is well known.

[Percy B]

Two non-fiction offerings that I can recommend (if they haven't already been) are:
The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedland
Beryl by Jeremy Wilson

The Escape Artist is a harrowing and deeply troubling story of a man who broke out of Auschwitz with the sole objective of letting the world know what was happening in the extermination camps. Maybe not everybody's cup of tea, but I think everybody who can read should read this.

Beryl is a much lighter offering, and a must read for anybody who likes to ride a bicycle quickly. This re-telling of the story of Beryl Burton's life is amazing, and has some great research into just how incredible an athlete she was. A tale of Yorkshire grit, and clears proves the training benefit of rhubarb picking on a farm for 50 hours a week on an athletes body (honest!)...

[TobyD]

Since you mentioned sci-fi, I'm currently reading Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. I'd been recommended it by two people so thought I'd try it, although I don't read much sci-fi.
I have to say I don't think much of it at the moment but I'd be interested to hear if anyone else who has read it has a different opinion

I have read it and I have a different opinion!! I enjoyed it and thought it was pretty cool, snappy sci-fi of that style. I can't remember anything about it now though. It might not be an idea choice for people who don't read much sci-fi, maybe??

Having now finished Ancillary Justice, I am even less enthusiastic about it I'm afraid. I have read a reasonable amount of sci-fi, and although it has some good ideas and arresting images, I felt strongly that it failed to develop these into a coherent narrative. I thought that the endless referral to the I / us state of the ships became repetitive and failed to actually go anywhere. It felt like a series of pretty decent ideas in search of an actual storyline, and for me, therefore failed as a novel. No shade on anyone who liked it, only my opinion.

[cowboyhat]

The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedland

 Maybe not everybody's cup of tea, but I think everybody who can read should read this.

Sounds like If this is a man and The Truce, and certainly how I feel about it.

[andy popp]

Apropos the politics thread, a month or so ago I read A Grain of Wheat by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o. This excellent novel (pub. 1967) is set in a Kenyan village in the days leading up to independence in 1963, whilst looking back over the preceding years, including the Mau Mau Uprising. It was a salutary lesson - as well as being a very good novel.

[SA Chris]

You've just triggered a reminder of an old set work book, the seniors were reading in my first year at high school. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Things_Fall_Apart

Must track it down. We read Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton at school, must reread it I'll probably appreciate it more as a story than having to analyse every word.

[JamieG]

Agreed. I’ve read both those books and they’re both excellent. Cry, the beloved country I remember being particularly affecting. Good recommendations.

[TobyD]

I've read Passage to India recently as part of an effort to read more classic literature.  I have to confess that I didn't love it, but it is fascinating, in the way it is both extremely dated, but, in places still relevant.  The best bits for me were the vivid descriptions of India, and the ludicrous nature of much of the English society there.

[Duma]

Unraveled, Katie Brown's memoir, is absolutely brutal. I was climbing around her heyday, but apart from the results was only vaguely aware that she was a bit skinny and seemed to burn out and leave the sport. Had no idea how religion, her relationship with her mother, and a really serious eating disorder had combined in such a toxic mix.

[Stabbsy]

Unraveled, Katie Brown's memoir, is absolutely brutal. I was climbing around her heyday, but apart from the results was only vaguely aware that she was a bit skinny and seemed to burn out and leave the sport. Had no idea how religion, her relationship with her mother, and a really serious eating disorder had combined in such a toxic mix.

Just finished listening to her being interviewed on the Runout and have previously heard her speak on the Enormocast, so was aware of the basics but keen to read it at some point. I’m a similar generation and remember the impact she had when she came on to the scene, particularly as I used to buy Climbing every so often and saw a few articles about her. Unsurprisingly at the time, none of the bad stuff was being shared.

[sherlock]

Unraveled, Katie Brown's memoir, is absolutely brutal. I was climbing around her heyday, but apart from the results was only vaguely aware that she was a bit skinny and seemed to burn out and leave the sport. Had no idea how religion, her relationship with her mother, and a really serious eating disorder had combined in such a toxic mix.

Yup, a distressing read at times.
The religion, mental and physical health and the inability to form stable relationships.Glad to read she's recovering. Hard to believe she managed to survive.
Amongst all the trauma I did think there were some genuinely uplifting moments though.

[remus]

Amongst all the trauma I did think there were some genuinely uplifting moments though.

Glad to hear there's some positives in there, about half way through it at the mo and slightly harrowed. It is a good read though, remarkable that she managed to perform at such a high level given everything that was going on in the background.

[owensum]

Read Climbers by SFF author (and climber) M John Harrison last week. Absolutely cracking. Top notch prose, one of the best books I've read in ages. It's from the 80s but somehow only just recently heard of it. I've read his SF book series Kefahuchi Tract before, also good.

[slab_happy]

Oh god, I love that book so much. I read it at an impressionable age, having found his books via the SFF as a young geek, and it might have been one of the things that piled up inside me and resulted in me starting climbing many years later.

Have you seen this photo of Harrison on Time For Tea Original?

https://ambientehotel.wordpress.com/2009/06/23/a-loving-relationship/

[owensum]

Oh god, I love that book so much. I read it at an impressionable age, having found his books via the SFF as a young geek, and it might have been one of the things that piled up inside me and resulted in me starting climbing many years later.

Have you seen this photo of Harrison on Time For Tea Original?

https://ambientehotel.wordpress.com/2009/06/23/a-loving-relationship/

Hadn't seen that before, amazing! And to have Fawcett and Pollitt on belay and photography duty, wow!

I did a little UKB search for Harrison and it revealed this: https://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,6509.msg554266.html#msg554266

Not just cranking the grit into his old age, looks like he won a significant literary prize in 2020 for one of his recent books, The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again, and he has more work on the way. Impressive. Crazy to think he was working as an SF editor all the way back in the 60s.

[SA Chris]

Bizarre, I was thinking about that book earlier in the week. In the small town where I lived in SA the library had a small collection of climbing literature. Most of it was the usual Himalayan / Alpine fodder, and, bizarrely, one copy of Climbers. I devoured it in about 2 days, then read it 3 or 4 times again before taking it back. I would take it out about once a year once I had churned through the Himalayan stuff, and each time it had not been read by anyone other than me in the intervening time (back when library books got stamped).

After reading about it there, I always wanted to do Wall of Horrors, and kept putting back getting on it when I was living in Leeds, but never committing to much beyond the boulder problem start as i wanted to climb it well and not mess it up. Then I moved away, had the ski accident, and afterwards never really got close to those grades again. Ah well.

[Johnny Brown]

Coincidentally I've just finished The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again, which Cowboyhat lent me.

I very rarely read fiction nowadays but I enjoyed it. Perhaps it helps I know the places a little, and the places are perhaps the characters as much as the protagonists. Climbers fans will recognise the deflated atmosphere and marginal spaces. I didn't find the weirdness convincing enough to intrigue, but that's a problem I have with fiction generally. And little is resolved, so either there's room for a sequel or more likely Mike aims to leave you adrift.

Also read Leo's book Closer to the Edge. With a Bear Grylls quote on the cover and a gushing foreword by Steve Backshall, I suspect a lot of climbers will pass this over as too mainstream. This would be a mistake. Although there is limited hold-by-hold accounts this is unapologetically a climbing book and lay readers would require heavy use of the glossary. The formative stuff, as you'd expect, is more interesting/ less 'normal' than I'd realised and is illuminating. Leo struck out on his own early and quickly the sheer volume of hard and big routes becomes staggering, to the point where whole expeditions are either left out or passed over in a paragraph. And the audacity of the objectives keeps ramping up; I think more detail on the difficulty of funding and preparing for the Antarctica trips could have been included but you get a picture. As Jim Perrin pointed out in Fawcett on Rock, it's one thing to compete with your peers but quite another to keep pushing when you've left them so far behind. The pacing is excellent and the writing is generally better than you might expect, especially given the limited editorial input he received. The ego is mostly in check although a couple of chapters do start by quoting himself, and the punctuation I found odd. But I think most climbers will enjoy it.

Being a Human, Charles Foster. I briefly reviewed his previous book on here a couple of years back as a welcome change from mainstream nature writing. This continues in the same vein as he throws himself, and often his son, into protracted and immersive attempts to live like a stone age man, which are recounted with humour and insight. What I didn't expect was quite how closely Foster's preoccupations would align with my own, viz; how did we get from being animal to (modern) human, did we lose anything important along the way, and how does mediating our every thought through language affect our experience of reality? Conclusions are not easily reached but you have to admire the commitment.